Seismic Analysis of a Low-Rise Shear Wall Building Using Actual Recorded Earthquake Motions

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) is sponsoring research into the seismic analysis of a low-rise shear wall building based on actual recorded earthquake motions. The objectives of this study are to obtain data on low-rise shear wall structure damping and stiffness to supplement other on-going USNRC research programs, and to investigate analytical modeling methods currently used by the nuclear industry. Modal identification will be performed to determine structure modal parameters (i.e., modal frequencies, damping values, shapes, and participation factors) directly from the recorded building input and response motions. Analytical building models will be developed using current industry methods. Comparison of analytically calculated modal parameters to values from the modal identification, and comparison of analytically calculated and recorded responses, will provide insights into the accuracy of these methods.